Nightmares
by Melissa2
Summary: After having a nightmare, Harper reveals a secret from his past


Title: Nightmares  
Author: Melissa, aka ILH  
Censor: PG-13   
Content Warnings: The usual Harper hitting on Rommie thing   
Central Characters: Harper, Rommie  
Spoilers: None really  
Author's Note: Short, but sweet   
Disclaimer: Andromeda's characters and the like belong to Tribune, not me. The first 4 paragraphs belong to Anna.  
  
  
He awoke screaming, nightmare zombies clutching at him. His pajama top clung to his sweat drenched skin, ensnaring him like a straight jacket. He shrieked again, not fully awake. The previous night's round of Halloween stories weighed heavily on him.  
  
Furiously, he kicked at the dark blue sheet, wrapped tightly around his ankles. He fell out of bed and hit the floor hard.  
  
He screamed again.  
  
A flicker of light in the air next to him coalesced into the form of a petite brunette with a serious expression. When she saw him, she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Were you here when I went to sleep, Rom-doll?" Harper asked, catching his breath from the fear and screaming.  
  
"No, Trance requested that I either wake you or give you a sedative. I was prepared for either," Rommie replied, holding up a hypospray.   
  
"Did I wake up the whole ship?" He pulled off the sweat drenched pajama top and tossed it onto the floor.  
  
"No, only Trance was disturbed. I warned you about the Halloween stories before we started telling them, Harper," Rommie said, staring at Harper with an 'I told you so' look.  
  
"Hey, give a guy some privacy! Unless you wanna join me." He raised his eyebrow at her suggestively.  
  
"Making seductive overtures to me in the middle of the night after you've had a nightmare." She paused. "This is a first, Harper."  
  
"We could make it a first for you [i]and[/i] a first for me." He pulled on a new shirt and shorts before stripping his bed of the sheets.  
  
"I think I'll pass on your offer." She watched toss everything carelessly into a pile by his bed and take some new sheets out of a drawer in his bureau.  
  
"A little help here?" he asked as he started to make the bed.  
  
She moved onto the other side of the bed and began helping him. "What was your nightmare about, Harper?"  
  
"Zombies, y'know the ones from the story in your archives," he replied.  
  
"You've always been paranoid concerning ghost stories," Rommie observed. "Why?"  
  
"Can you keep something to yourself, Rommie?" Harper asked.  
  
"I will keep what you say completely confidential." She tucked in the last corner of the comforter on her side.  
  
"Sit down. The reason's kinda long." Harper plopped down on his bed, Rommie by his side. "Well, it all started back when I was thirteen..."  
  
*****  
  
The nights on Earth were cold, especially in the refugee camps like the one young Seamus Harper called home. His family was relatively complete, other than the loss of a couple of cousins the year before in an unexpected Magog attack.  
  
The Magog had kept to themselves over the past few weeks, which brought much relief to those that kept guard at night for the attacks. In fact, since the fear was no longer as heightened, the guards accidentally fell asleep one night.  
  
Harper was sleeping in his makeshift tent with his younger sister, Erin. Unlike his younger sister, Harper was a very sound sleeper. In fact, he didn't even jar during the first screams. When he awoke, he found Erin was gone, and the entire camp was in panic.   
  
"What's going on?!?" He emerged from the tent to see twenty or so Magog feasting upon his relatives and friends. He didn't bother looking for anyone. He just ran as far away as his legs would carry him, towards his hiding place, rather than join the dead and dying in the camp.  
  
When he arrived at the small cave, he looked frantically for Erin. She had promised if there were ever an attack on the camp that she would come to the hiding place. Harper had taken her there enough for her to know her way on her own. He tried to assure himself that she was just with their parents, safe and sound.  
  
An hour passed before Harper returned to the remains of the refugee camp. He found his parents still alive and ran to them.  
  
"Have you seen Erin?" he asked excitedly.  
  
"No, we were hoping she was with you..." his mother said.  
  
"I'll go look for her," his father said, his expression grave.  
  
"Can I go back and look for her somewhere I think she might be?" Harper asked, avoiding telling anyone about the hiding place.  
  
"Of course, Seamus...just don't go far, okay?" his mother said.  
  
"Okay, Mom." Harper hurried off towards the hiding place again.  
  
When he arrived for the second time, it appeared deserted. He eventually sighed and sat down on a rock to think about where else Erin could have possibly gone.  
  
A giggle from the cave behind him caught his attention, and he entered the dimly lit cave. "Erin?" he asked into the near darkness.  
  
The giggle was behind him, then, and he turned around to see his blond little sister smiling at him. "Seamus, I love you."  
  
Harper stepped forward. "Love you, too, Erin. Where have you been? We were worried sick back at the camp..."   
  
"I've just been looking for you, that's all. But now that I've found you..." She started running off around the corner, hiding behind some trees.  
  
"Erin! Come back here right now!" He ran behind the trees, but couldn't find his sister anywhere. He searched for an hour before he finally gave up.  
  
"She probably went back to camp," he told himself.  
  
When he returned, he found the survivors crying in huddles, even his parents. He wondered what aunt, uncle or cousin he had lost.  
  
"Oh, Seamus! Thank God you've returned!" His mother grabbed him in a tight embrace.  
  
He patted his mother on the back comfortingly. "What's wrong, Mom?"  
  
"It's Erin..."  
  
"I know...I just saw her," Harper said.  
  
"I'm so sorry you had to see that!" His mother wept into her son's shoulder. "It's terrible what happened to her."  
  
He was confused, but decided to play along so he could figure out what had happened. "Mom..."  
  
"I miss her already, Seamus. It's a terrible thing what the Magog did to her. And she was so young, too. Her life was stolen away from her before her time..."  
  
*****  
  
"Your sister was dead, but you saw her?" Rommie asked.  
  
"Yeah, I saw her ghost. And I think it's because I was going to blame myself for not being there for her during the attack...she told me that she loved me," Harper said.  
  
"And ghost stories affect you more than others because you've actually seen a ghost," Rommie concluded.  
  
"Yep. I mean, if I can see my dead sister, who knows about these zombies and vampires and all this other stuff?" He stood up and stretched. "You're the first person that I've told that story. Ever."  
  
"If ghosts do exist, why haven't they appeared here? Enough lives have been lost on board," Rommie said.  
  
"They don't have a reason, I guess. I don't really know. Hey, since it doesn't seem like I'm going to be getting anymore sleep, how about you and I go down to one of the Machine Shops and work on your tastebuds," Harper offered.  
  
"Will you give me sweet, sour and salty now?" she asked.  
  
"I could give you any of the three or a combination," Harper said seductively.  
  
"You are persistent, Harper, but this is a serious matter for my body. How do you propose we add the sensations?"  
  
They walked out into the corridor and down to the Machine Shop together, their conversation on android tastebuds, but their minds still thinking about the possibilities of ghosts. 


End file.
